THE ODD TAPES: Creatures / Some People Say I'm Paranoid, Don't They?
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You find a strange tape.
You dig into the boxes in your attic, looking for your old cassette player.
Thirty-three minutes later, you press play.
A distorted voice rattles out of the built-in speaker.
The voice is speaking directly to you.
[…unknown transmission…]
It never turns off—the little red light emanating from its left pupil. Its beam is sharp, relentless, piercing through the air of this dark room at every angle. Every. Angle. I can’t seem to find a place where it isn’t in my line of vision. If there’s a button here somewhere that shuts it off, I haven’t been able to locate it. I’ll keep trying, but right now, I’m just too tired. I’m not even sure it means anything. Could just be a waste of time.
However… that is all I have now… time. Well, ever since the author fell asleep.
What am I doing? This is no way to start this story! Sorry, I’m no good at this sort of thing. I’m more of an editor. I’m great at fixing other people’s mistakes, but totally blind to issues of my own.
Anyway… where do I start? I suppose I should introduce the characters. That’s easy. There’s just me and the author, William Pauley III—only I can’t reveal who I am just yet [for the sake of needing to call me something, I suppose you could call me ‘The Editor,’ or even better, ‘Tom Stripper.’ You all know Tom Stripper, right?]… oh, and WPIII isn’t here anymore. There’s just this… shell. It looks like him, but it's… well, I don't know what it is, but it isn't him. I'm sure of that.
Damn. This isn’t as easy as I initially suspected it would be.
Okay, but the setting… hmmm. Well, that’s going to be tough to describe, too. I’m not exactly sure where I am just now, but I do know that I’m trapped inside a small room with no visible entrances or exits.
It's a long story, and one I won't get into just yet, but this room isn't new to me. I've been here before. Many times before. But I don't know where it is, how to get here, or the way out—I only know that it is possible to leave, but only WPIII knows the way, and like I said… he's gone.
Does that paint a clear enough picture for you? There’s just me, alone in some trap room, recording this on a dying device I pried from Pauley's cold hands [the shell of his body is over in the far corner, outstretched atop a reclined dental chair, that warm laser eye beaming directly into my own].
Oh, and I also came across this bag of plastic cassette tapes. I found it a few hours ago, and it was full of them—I’m talking 80s/90s era audio cassettes—only I don’t think they contain music. They all have these cryptic words written on the labels. If they’re the names of songs or bands, then I’ve personally never heard any of them before. There's ‘Creatures',’ ‘Blink, ‘Liquid People,’ to name just a few. Bizarre stuff. They’ve certainly piqued my interest, but I have no way of knowing what’s on them, as I have no access to a tape deck here in this damn room.1
I’m stuck here. Maybe forever.
Unless…
Unless, of course, the eye comes into play here—the eye, that damn red light. It could be the key to the way out of here…
Alright, I need your help:
BEWARE: The most popular response will directly affect the next issue of THE ODD TAPES.
WHAT FOLLOWS IS FOR PAID SUBSCRIBERS ONLY:
TAPE #1:
A SIDE:
B SIDE:
THE SERIAL:
MAKING A SCENE: “Creatures” — A five part mini-series exploring how I wrote this story, from conception to finished draft. This is a fully transparent look into my creative process that chronicles [to the exact minute] when every word in my story was written, as well as scans from my notebooks and all the real life distractions that tried (& was oftentimes successful) to pull me away from creating this piece. A fun, sometimes maddening, account of the five days it took to purge this story fully from my brain.
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Substack editor’s note: This is a blatant lie. The man recorded his message onto a cassette tape, therefore he must’ve had access to a tape deck. I’ve personally never encountered a tape deck that records, but doesn’t play tapes. I’m not certain what the purpose of this lie is, but I couldn’t in good conscience allow this to be posted without at least warning you, the reader, of this bizarre untruth.
Couldn't read it all the way through-- because broke af-- but this is so good! This would be audio gold!
Okay, now this is going to be weird (but fun!).